Desperation
by ProEpilogue
Summary: Aang and Katara's duties have kept them apart for a fortnight, but an incident in the Fire Nation leaves Aang sleep-deprived and anxious. With only one night to go, he can't stand to be away from her any longer. ***LEMON***


**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my second Kataang story! If you haven't already, check out my first (Coming of Age). There are more where this came from, so stay tuned!**

 **Please be warned that the following is a LEMON.**

 **Standard disclaimers apply.**

 **\- Meg**

Even seven years after Sozin's Comet, Aang still struggled to believe that the war was over. More so, he struggled to believe that his loved ones made it through in tact. Despite seven years of being with Katara, marrying her, and now talking about starting a family with her, he struggled to believe that he wasn't dreaming.

He had an especially hard time believing it when he couldn't see it with his own eyes. He was reaching the end of a fortnight spent in the Fire Nation, and the better part of his stay was plagued with nightmares that shook him to his soul.

Katara went with him on most trips, but sometimes she was required elsewhere. She spent at least two weeks in the South Pole every six months or so, to check in on her family and to serve as a sort of guest instructor at the waterbending training facility that had been erected as part of the restorations. Aang usually went with her, but this time his most recent diplomatic mission overlapped with her time away.

He tossed and turned fitfully in his sleep on his last night in the Fire Nation capital. Fire Lord Zuko had requested Aang's assistance to mediate a change in former Fire Lord Ozai's guard. Zuko's father had been tormenting the former guards, and his persuasive nature hadn't waned in his seven years of imprisonment. Every year Zuko arranged for a complete change in the guard, and Aang always lent a hand.

However, he hadn't had to actually speak to Ozai in previous years. Routinely he would sit in as Zuko interviewed candidates from the Fire Nation's general forces who were interested in returning to the capital. This time around, the very day Aang had arrived there was an incident in the dungeons. The time for intervention was indeed upon them as one of the two guards on day shift attacked the other on Ozai's command. When Aang and Zuko heard of the commotion, they found the disloyal guard had been subdued and arrested, and when they entered Ozai's cell, he was sitting in the corner with a pleased smile on his face.

"Good guards are so hard to come by, wouldn't you agree, Zuko? Looks to me like you'll need to increase the frequency of the rotation," Ozai said. "Oh, where are my manners? Avatar Aang, so good to see you. It has been some time."

Aang glared at the man before him. It had taken a great deal of strength not to kill him all those years ago, but the sight of him now, twisted-looking and a little demented, was _almost_ enough to make him wish he had.

"What do you hope to achieve, father? You know full well if one of these dimwits who listen to your ridiculous rhetoric actually get you out of here, you'd be back in no time."

"I know, I know. However, patience is a virtue, son. I have had a great deal of time to think about what I would do if I left this place. My plans won't take long, don't you worry. When I achieve what I want I'll even come back voluntarily."

"Surely you would. What is this great plan then? What ideas could possibly keep you going to the point where you're still tainting peoples' minds this way, and manipulating them to do your bidding?" Zuko was getting angrier by the minute, and Aang could see the flickers of flame emerging from his fingertips. He worried Zuko might do something he would regret.

"Zuko, it's pointless. It doesn't matter what he says because he won't ever change. All we can do is be proactive about the dungeon guard. He can't do anything in here."

"I'll come after you first, you know," Ozai started, eyes on Aang now. "You have many enemies, Avatar, but I assure you I'm at the top of the list. I will leave here, and I will destroy everything and everyone you've ever loved."

In what Zuko assumed was an attempt at taking the high road, Aang turned on his heel and left. He followed suit, and they saw that the day shift was filled again and carried on to the palace.

"He's always saying ridiculous things like that, Aang. I wouldn't worry about it. Like you said, there's nothing he can do from in there." Zuko clapped a reassuring pat on his friend's back, and they went on about their day of interviews and meetings.

Aang didn't hear a word that was said the whole afternoon. His thoughts were focused on Ozai's threats, and the two weeks that followed were much the same. Ozai's father, Fire Lord Azulon, had been responsible for the decimation of the Air Nomads, and it was no secret that Ozai himself would stop at nothing for revenge on Aang removing his bending and ending his tyranny. He was capable of truly horrible things.

The nightmares began to plague the Avatar on the third night, and didn't cease after that. Sometimes the setting changed, but the end result never did. Aang found himself facing Fire Lord Ozai in some other time and place, and they would battle it out as they had seven years prior. At some point during the dream, Ozai would have Katara in his grip, and he'd suddenly use her as a human shield against Aang's attacks, so quick that he wouldn't have time to notice.

He would be the one to end her life in these dreams. In others, Ozai would have Katara imprisoned deep in one of his many secret chambers at the Fire Nation palace. Aang could hear her screaming for help, pleading for him to save her, as he'd race through corridor after corridor in vain as her cries never sounded any closer than anywhere else. He would hear Ozai cackling, and taunting Katara.

 _"He's not coming for you, girl. He is weak. He will let you die. It may take a while longer for you to bleed out, yet. How about I will show you mercy and end your suffering now?"_

Then Aang would hear it—the screams were coming from a room at the end of the next hall.

 _"Any last words, girl? A message to your Avatar about how he's failed you, perhaps?"_

Aang heard the whispered words, muttered as if in prayer but audible in his dream world.

 _"I love you, Aang. I always will. This isn't your fault."_

The airbender burst through the door just as the sickening sound of Ozai's dagger piercing Katara's beautiful skin, right in her heart, filled the room.

Aang's broken face was the last thing she would see in the living world.

Her lifeless body was the last thing he would see before waking up yet again, pillow soaked with tears and sheets damp with his sweat.

From the darkness outside, Aang knew dawn was still a long way off, but he felt so distraught and broken that he couldn't wait for morning. He wrote a hasty note for Zuko to explain he was leaving early, and to thank him for his hospitality. After throwing his few possessions together, he headed to the courtyard to find the stable Appa was sleeping in, grabbing a cabbage from Appa's food trough on his way in.

The gentle beast growled in his sleep, and Aang wondered idly if he had bad dreams as well. He stroked the bison's fur and waved the cabbage under his nose to rouse him.

"Wake up, buddy. It's me. I'm sorry, it's very late, but we need to leave."

Appa was suddenly alert, and he looked around them for a threat. Seeing none, he took the cabbage from Aang and regarded him again.

"We need to go to the South Pole. I need to see Katara."

Appa huffed in understanding, and Aang airbent his supplies to Appa's saddle, and settled in at the reigns on his neck.

"Thanks, buddy. Yip, yip."

XxXxXxXxX

Katara was cold. She was no longer acclimated to the temperatures she was born and bred in at the South Pole. The restorations included guest accommodations, and she preferred to stay there rather than encroaching on her father and Malina's home, or Sokka and Suki's, but she couldn't deny that being alone in the ice house with the fire dwindling in the grate made the cold permeate the air more than it otherwise would. She was used to sun and warmth in the daytime, and a handsome, muscular airbender keeping her bed warm at night.

It had been a long two weeks, and she was anxious for Aang to come and get her tomorrow. She knew that their separation took a harder toll on him than he let on, but situations like these were generally unavoidable.

Even so, she knew she shouldn't complain at the chance to see her family, or at the necessity of doing her duty to help the next generation of waterbenders. She and Aang had been talking about having children of their own, and between that and supporting the Air Acolytes, she may not be able to make these trips the next time she was summoned.

The thought brought a slight smile to her face. The thought of having a family with Aang warmed her inside, allowing her almost enough comfort to fall over the precipice of sleep that had evaded her until now.

She was teetering on the brink of slumber when she heard the door to her lodging place sliding open and closed again. Suddenly fully alert, she stood and assumed a defensive stance, prepared to bend the ice and snow surrounding her to trap whoever dared try to attack her in the dead of night. _What foolish person tries to attack a master waterbender while she's surrounded by her element?_ Katara mused.

Light footsteps drew closer, and Katara waited with baited breath. As she was about to release her power, a distraught-looking Aang rounded the corner. His eyes were desperate and searching, and he exhaled visibly when he saw her.

She immediately abandoned her defensive stance and ran to him, fraught with worry at what drove him here at this hour. It was nearly dawn, meaning Aang and Appa must have left the Fire Nation well after midnight.

No words were spoken as Aang embraced Katara tightly, burrowing his face in the crook of her neck. The soft hairs of his beard tickled her, but she remained silent and clutched at him just as urgently. They stayed like that in the doorway of the bedroom until Aang sobbed audibly, alarming Katara as she felt the wetness of his tears on her skin. She stroked his cheek with her hand and guided his head up so she could see his eyes. He looked so dejected that it broke her heart.

"Aang, Sweetie. What happened?" she asked softly, as if speaking to a wounded animal.

The airbender didn't speak, but his expression changed. Comprehension dawned in his eyes and suddenly his lips were on hers. One hand twined into her dark curls, and the other held her fast to him at the small of her back. She gave in immediately, allowing him to take what he wanted of her mouth. His tongue brushed her bottom lip and she moaned, allowing him to slip inside her mouth and deepen their kiss.

His hands were shaking as they tried in vain to undo the sash holding Katara's nightgown closed. She reached behind herself to help him, and suddenly found herself exposed to the cold night air in just her bindings. Only it didn't feel so cold anymore, with Aang clutching her and kissing every bit of skin he could reach, teeth scoring the flesh at intervals.

He made quick work of her bindings, leaving her naked while he still stood fully clothed. She reached for his robes and he let her push the upper half down, but before she could reach his bottoms, he hoisted her up by her waist, forcing her to lock her legs around his waist as he marched toward the bed, holding her as easily as if she were air itself.

Ideas of logic and conversation flew by the wayside in Katara's mind. Aang's need was evident in the way he grasped her, in the fierceness in his gaze, and in the desperate sounds he made when she rubbed herself against his still-clothed erection in an attempt to find some relief. He set her down on the bed and climbed above her, kissing her as if she may float away if he didn't anchor her down.

She felt that way sometimes. Kissing him was always a blissful experience, and she did often feel that she would float away he if weren't there to hold her down. Despite his own affinity for flight, he kept her sure-footed on the ground in all things. She knew that letting him work out his frustrations in this moment through her body was one way in which she could do the same for him.

His kisses followed a well-trodden path along her jawline, his beard scratching her fair skin lightly along the way, and she turned her head to give him better access. He took the lobe of her ear between his teeth and gave it a light tug, and she mewled his name. Emboldened, he continued his descent along the slope of her neck, pressed a fervent kiss to her pulse point, relishing in the erratic beat of it in that moment.

All Katara could do was give herself to his affections. She feared if she tried anything more, the spell would be broken, and him with it, and she refused to see that look of near-devastation on his face again if she could help it.

His tongue found her nipple and circled it before taking it between his teeth with a rough tug. Katara gasped and knotted her fingers in the bed sheets, her other hand holding onto the back of her husband's head, trying to pull him impossibly closer. He moved to continue his ministrations on the other nipple, and she whispered a plea, her voice raw and needy.

"Aang… Please, Sweetie. Stop teasing me."

He lifted his head and looked up at her, eyes boring into her very soul. He spoke for the first time since his arrival: "I won't ever let anyone hurt you, Katara. You know that, right?"

Confused, she nodded. "Of course I do."

"I will go to the ends of the earth to protect you, Katara. I will always keep you safe."

She tried to ask again what happened to him in the Fire Nation, but the question died on her lips when he lowered his head to the apex of her open thighs and pressed the tip of his tongue against her swollen clit, giving it a hard flick.

Katara's back arched off the bed, and she again opted to give herself over to Aang, as she always did. Words were forgotten, wearing away until only sensation remained. Aang pushed two practiced fingers inside of his wife, marveling at how wonderful the inside of her felt—hot, tight, and _so wet_. He curled his fingers upward against the bundle of nerves deep inside her, causing her to moan breathlessly and rock her hips forward, trying to find more friction for her clit as his mouth had taken to nipping at the insides of her thighs.

The waterbender was nearly begging for release when Aang regarded her, all flushed caramel skin and shimmering sweat. He had _needed_ to see her this way; desperate, wanting and undone. This sight would help him forget the images his nightmares had left in his head. In this moment, he was saw that Katara was alive and well, and completely trusting of him.

He smiled properly for what felt like the first time in days as he lowered his head back to her sensitive flesh. He lapped at her clit, alternating between flicking it side to side and sucking it as he did her nipples. When he heard her breath catch, signalling her approaching orgasm, he slipped a third finger inside of her and twisted them upwards with one final suck on her clit.

She was infinitely grateful for staying in the guest house as she screamed his name in her release. His thumb continued to stroke circles on her clit as she rode wave after crashing wave of electricity, repeating his name, and proclamations of love in a breathless mantra.

Despite the protest in her shaking limbs, she tried to move from her place in the bed to return the favour, but his hands on her thighs kept her down. She met his gaze and was relieved to find much of the anguish gone from them, though not all.

He pushed his bottoms down and shook them off, finally allowing his erection free. Katara reached for him again but he caught her wrist, and took the other as well, holding them above her head as he guided her back into the soft mattress. Katara was surprised when she felt him bend the nearby ice into a shackle holding her wrists down.

Of course, she could easily get rid of it, but she was far too gone in wanton desire and her need to submit to him to even think of it. He was usually so careful with her, even years into their sexual relationship. His kind heart always led him to make sure she was okay, and comfortable in whatever they did. This side of him was dark, and possessive, and it turned her on to no end. She would do anything he asked of her, if he asked with that look of need in his eyes.

Aang's lips moulded to Katara's once more as he deftly pushed his cock inside of her, filling her suddenly and drawing groans from them both. His tongue plundered her mouth so thoroughly that she could do little but accept it as he devoured her. She struggled in vain against her restraints as he moved in and out of her pussy in a fast and hard rhythm.

This was no longer about making love after being apart for so long. Aang was clutching at Katara, gripping her breasts, and tugging on her hair as he fucked her single-mindedly. He needed to feel her everywhere, without distraction, to know that she was _real_ ; that _any_ of this was real. Part of him thought he may still be dreaming, and that at any moment he would either hurt her or wake up back in the Fire Nation to news that Ozai had escaped and had killed her himself.

Her clenching muscles on his thick cock reassured him. The warmth of her breasts in his hand grounded him. The chorus of whimpers and moans Katara allowed him to swallow kept him sane.

The fluttering of her insides was too much stimulus for him, and he wasn't finished with her yet.

With a quick motion, he removed her restraints and she wasted no time in caressing him everywhere she could reach. He slipped his forearm under her waist and rolled quickly so that she was on top of him, never slipping from the grip inside her.

He always loved to see her on top of him; her thick, dark hair cascading down to her waist, the bouncing of her tits, and the view as her pussy sheathed his cock over and over convinced him time after time that she was an angel on Earth, and he loved her beyond measure.

Katara locked eyes with her husband, curious but pleased of the change. She steadied herself with her hands on his chest, above his heart as it beat rapidly, and she found her rhythm in short, quick strokes. Aang thought he would be more than fine with this, as he usually was, but the primal voice inside him that wanted to take her to be sure he truly could caused him to grip her hips in his hands and guide her higher, pull her down harder, and meet her half way with his own thrusts. Katara's vision went fuzzy each time their hips collided. She felt him deeper than should be possible, and it spurred her on as she lost herself in sensation.

Aang sat up slightly, one hand still on Katara's hip while the other moved to where they were joined and stroked her clit with wild abandon. Her movements almost stilled in surprise, and he leaned forward to tug a nipple between his teeth in quick reprimand as she resumed her pace.

It was all too much. The sensations, Aang's frustrations, and Katara's boundless desire to fix whatever was broken inside him, it was all too much to hold onto any longer, and Katara shook and convulsed with a gratified moan, coming apart in Aang's arms as his hips slowed in the grips of his own orgasm. She felt his hot cum shooting inside of her as his forehead met her shoulder. She gripped the back of his neck and rubbed it soothingly, and they stayed that way for a few moments, completely spent in every sense of the word.

Still connected, Katara moved to kiss Aang's cheek, and she nuzzled his neck soothingly.

His arms encircled her, hugging her close to him. The embrace lacked the desperation their first of the night had. In this moment, there was nothing but love and comfort.

The window in the room told them the sun was up, and a new day had come. Aang inhaled the comforting scent of Katara's hair before moving to help her off of him and back onto the bed. He fetched a cloth and returned to help her clean up. Reassuming his place next to her, he dragged the blankets up and rolled onto his side.

For a long moment, nothing was said. Katara wouldn't press him for details anymore until he was ready to share them. He loved her more for that.

Sleepily, he stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb and kissed her softly one more time, stirring the fire still burning in her veins. She was far from cold now that he had returned to her.

In the last moments before his eyes closed, she saw that they were again untroubled, and she smiled.

"Thank you, Katara," he mumbled before drifting off. "For believing in me. For marrying me."

"It was my pleasure, Sweetie. Now go to sleep."

No nightmares would find him here.


End file.
